Justin Rogers | MLive.comDetroit Pistons coach Lawrence Frank was not displeased that his team didn't make a deal before the trade deadline.

PHOENIX – The Detroit Pistons
didn't make a move at the trade deadline for a variety of reasons,
which seemed to leave head coach Lawrence Frank relieved.

While any coach would accept a
blockbuster in his favor, circumstances dictated that wouldn't happen
for the Pistons. And with the team in the midst of an unlikely
turnaround since the first half of the season, Frank expressed a
preference for continuity.

“We have a group that's gotten
better,” Frank said. “So it's good that we're staying together
so we can continue to evaluate, both as a team, and as individuals,
the group over the course of an abbreviated season.”

The Pistons, who play the Phoenix
Suns in Friday's third game of a five-game western swing, received
the predictable calls about the building blocks they don't care to
trade – future first-round draft picks and youthful players like
Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight – and responded with the predictable
counteroffers of big-contract players whose salaries other teams
didn't want.

In the end, nothing happened, and
nothing was close to happening.

In other situations, Frank said,
the Pistons might have felt understandable anxiety before Thursday's
trade deadline passed, either for fear of being traded, or amid hopes
that they would be.

“But here, literally, there was
nothing going on,” Frank said.

Frank reiterated his stance from
earlier in the week that the key for players who aren't happy with
their roles is maintaining focus now that they're definitely Pistons
through the rest of the season.

“We're going to need each and
every guy to help us win a game,” Frank said. “That's proven,
that every guy will help you win at least one game.

“Guess what, the guys that
aren't playing now could be playing tomorrow. They could be playing
two weeks from now. So you've got to be ready and you've got to stay
ready.”

Just as the Pistons players'
approaches to the trade deadline might have changed with the fates of
their season – a 4-20 start, and 12-7 record since then – so,
perhaps, did Frank's.

“I'm happy we stayed where we're
at,” he said, “so we can continue to get a better look at
everyone.”

While the Pistons didn't make a
deal, they will run into two teams this trip that did. The Los
Angeles Clippers, who play the Pistons Sunday, picked up guard Nick
Young, while Wednesday foe Denver nabbed JaVale McGee, both from the
Washington Wizards.